Father arrested after children found in car

Saturday

Aug 17, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Debbie LaPlaca, CORRESPONDENT

SOUTHBRIDGE — A 25-year old father has been charged with reckless endangerment for allegedly leaving his two young children restrained in a car more than 30 minutes while he was drunk and passed out in his apartment.

When Police Officer Richard Reddick arrived at 402 Main St. in the late afternoon Wednesday to investigate a report of children left unattended in a car, he found a 2-year-old and 4-year-old alone and restrained in child safety seats in the rear of a parked vehicle.

The vehicle, in a common parking lot that serves CAP Auto Parts and several residences, had vomit on the driver's door and a key in the on position in the ignition.

The children, Officer Reddick said in a report, were shaken but appeared to be in good health. He removed the children from the car, gave them teddy bears and placed them in a grassy area.

From the car, the officer retrieved a wallet with the Vermont driver's license of John Metcalf III. The older child identified the photograph as their father and told the officer, "Daddy is sick."

Nilda Ortiz, who called the police, told Officer Reddick the children were in the car for about 40 minutes. Mr. Metcalf, she said, lived in one of the apartments and had left the children unattended before. With the children in her care, several officers went to the apartment door, where they found drops of what appeared to be blood.

The locked door was forced open with a battering ram and Mr. Metcalf, who was found "passed out on his bed wearing only his underwear," was difficult to rouse and reeked of alcohol, the police report said.

No cans or bottles of alcoholic beverages were found in the residence. He was placed in police custody, and the Department of Children and Families was contacted to take the children.

A neighbor identified as the children's grandmother, Jacklyn Metcalf, told officers that Mr. Metcalf has full custody of the children, and their mother, Abby Schocik, resides in Vermont.

Officers gathered prescription formula for one child with food allergies, clothes and diapers and transported the children to Harrington Memorial Hospital for medical evaluation.

While gathering the children's belongings, officers reported finding a paste-like substance thought to be hashish oil on the bedroom dresser.

At the police station, a breath test on Mr. Metcalf returned a reading of .162, which is double the legal limit for driving.

Mr. Metcalf, of 402 Main St., was charged with two counts of reckless endangerment of a child and arraigned Thursday in Dudley District Court.